Chapter 27

* * * *

I was dozing on the sofa when I heard a key turn in the lock and the sound of the front door opening. I sat up as Jay walked in carrying a black overnight bag and wheeling a matching suitcase behind him. He looked good dressed in a black polo shirt, jeans, and gray sneakers. Seeing me sprawled across the sofa in a stained tee shirt and sweat pants surrounded by empty diet Coke cans, Tastykake packages, and other assorted trash brought a frown to his face.

??Please don??t tell me you??ve been living like this since I left,?? he said, parking his luggage against the wall.

??Okay, I won??t tell you.??

??Have you even showered???

??Yes. A few days ago, I think.??

??Jesus,?? he said, shaking his head as he went to the kitchen. He returned with a garbage bag that he promptly began filling with the trash I??d accumulated.

I rose guiltily from the sofa and stumbled over a pair of sneakers I??d discarded beside the coffee table after my last Wawa run.